Quakes Fall to Salt Lake at Home

On Saturday, the San Jose Earthquakes fell at Buck Shaw Stadium 3-2 to Real Salt Lake. The loss was particularly damaging to the Quakes playoff hopes because they loss at home to a team they are competing for a playoff spot with. Here is what the coach and players told the press after the game.

San Jose Earthquakes head coach Frank Yallop was disappointed but realistic “Obviously a disappointing night for us. I thought the best team won tonight. Real Salt Lake played very well and deserved to win to be honest.”In regards to the team's playoff run, “We have been playing very well and getting results against good teams. A tie would have been fine with us, but they get three points up on us, which is difficult. We have a tough game coming up in Dallas and if we can go to their place and get a result then everything is wide open again.”

Earthquakes Goalkeeper Joe Cannon added “To be honest, I thought we got outplayed tonight. It felt like they out-shot us, out-possessed us, won more second balls, and they wanted it more I guess. Today’s results make Thursday’s game (at FC Dallas) a must-win game.” As for the result against Salt Lake, “It’s disappointing, but what can we say? It was a good run we had, and I’m highly disappointed. I think this game was the worst we’ve played as a defensive unit all year long, especially at home. It hurts because I think our fans were getting excited and into this playoff chase, and now we have to do the business away from Buck Shaw.”

After scoring two terrific goals, Earthquakes midfielder Darren Huckerby wasn't pleased either “It was great to get goals tonight, but they don’t count for anything. We weren’t good enough today. At 2-1 we’ve got to win the game. Then we got sloppy.” On defending a lead “At 2-1 you do not want seven, eight, even nine players pushing on to score another goal. You need six men staying back and defending. Keep five men back, keep the four in the back-line back, and have them struggle to score another goal. This is just unacceptable; we have to be better than that.”

On Thursday the Quakes to take on FC Dallas in what has turned into a very important game if they want to make the playoffs. The team will likely need to win at least three if not four of their remaining five games to qualify for the playoffs. Thursday at Frisco will be their next test.